War on Hamas: Lebanese Islamist group announces two leaders killed in Israeli strike

A Lebanese Islamist group close to Palestinian Hamas said two of its leaders were killed Friday in an Israeli strike in eastern Lebanon.

Earlier, the Israeli army said its air force “struck and killed Mosab Khalaf in the Meydoun region of Lebanon, a high-ranking terrorist from the terrorist organization Jamaah Islamiyah, who was planning a large number of terrorist attacks against Israel.”

In a statement, Jamaah Islamiyah announced the deaths of Mosab Khalaf and Bilal Mohamed Khalaf in the Israeli strike, which comes as violence between the powerful Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel has worsened in recent days.

A Lebanese security source, who requested anonymity, earlier told AFP that “the Lebanese leader of Jamaah Islamiyah was killed when an Israeli drone struck his car” on the Meydoun road. The National News Agency (ANI, spokesperson) for its part reported two deaths as a result of an “enemy” strike on this road.

Hezbollah’s response

The Israeli army, which did not mention the second person killed, said in a statement that “terrorist Mosab Khalaf collaborated with the Hamas branch of the terrorist organization in Lebanon, coordinating and carrying out terrorist attacks against Israel.”

In response to the “cowardly” attack, Hezbollah said it fired “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at two military sites in northern Israel. Meydoun is located in the south of the Bekaa Plain, a Hezbollah stronghold, far from the border with Israel.

Jamaah Islamiyah is closely linked to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, with which it claims to carry out attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon.

On March 24, the group’s leader escaped an Israeli drone attack in eastern Lebanon and a Syrian civilian was killed, according to a Lebanese security source.

Daily attacks

Since the start of the war on October 7 between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the border between Lebanon and Israel has seen daily attacks from Hezbollah and its allied groups, as well as retaliatory actions by Israeli artillery and aircraft.

The Israeli army announced Friday that an Israeli civilian was killed overnight near the Lebanese border by rockets fired from southern Lebanon, where the army said Hezbollah infrastructure had been destroyed.

Violence between Hezbollah and Israel has killed at least 381 people on the Lebanese side since October 7, mostly Hezbollah fighters, according to AFP. Eleven soldiers and nine civilians were killed in northern Israel, according to the army.